Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protective helmets which are useful for military, law enforcement and other applications.
Description of the Related Art
Protective helmets are well known. Such helmets have been used for military and non-military applications. Examples of the latter include law enforcement uses, sporting uses and other types of safety helmets. Protective helmets used for military and law enforcement uses, in particular, need to be ballistic resistant.
The currently most popular military helmets are formed from aramid fibers, typically in the form of several layers of aramid fibers together with a resin material, such as a phenolic resin. Helmets formed of aramid fibers are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,199,388, 4,778,638 and 4,908,877. Although such helmets in general perform satisfactorily, they are fairly heavy.
It would be desirable to provide a protective helmet which has a reduced weight and also has increased ballistic resistance against threat projectiles.